The team made the announcement Monday morning. Not only did Woodson lead New York to a disappointing season that ended short of the playoffs, the Knicks hired Phil Jackson as their president, and he’ll surely want to hire his own coach. So, this writing has been on the wall for a while.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Mike Woodson and his entire staff,” Jackson said in a released statement. “The coaches and players on this team had an extremely difficult 2013-14 season, and blame should not be put on one individual. But the time has come for change throughout the franchise as we start the journey to assess and build this team for next season and beyond.

“Everyone in this franchise owes a great deal of gratitude to what Mike and his staff have done. We wish him the best.”

Woodson helped the Hawks rise through the Eastern Conference before guiding New York to its best season in years last season. He finishes with a 109-79 record in New York, the best winning percentage by a Knicks coach since Jeff Van Gundy.

I suspect Woodson’s head-coaching career is not over. For all his head-scratching decisions and allegiances, maybe he just needs a fresh start with a new roster.

The Knicks could use a fresh start, too, but their roster full of hefty contracts will keep them from turning over too much. This, though, is at least a start in the right direction.

New coaches will only be able to do so much until they get team basketball players and ones who care about defense too…

Look what the Spurs did against the Mavs at the end of their game yesterday. The Mavs are one of the top offensive teams this past season and the Spurs shut them down.

The Mavs were tied for 2nd in the league in points per 100 possessions. They were tied for 2nd with the Heat. The Spurs went on like a 19 to 4 run to end the game and it was their DEFENSE that lead to the win for them as they were behind and needed stops…

And stops they got as they limited the Mavs to ONLY 4 points over the final 7 min’s and 45 seconds of the game…

Phil, get some guys who think doing that to an opponent is cool please… Guys who share the ball, but with a purpose and hustle all the time…

Really, Michael and Kobe weren’t “triangle guys” as well. Both were very skilled iso players that phil used to maximize with the triangle. It’s really going to be with Melo’s age, does he have the mentality at this point in his career to adapt to it. But form a skillset standpoint there is not much difference in their offense skillset and styles pre-Phil.

stayhigh_247 - Apr 21, 2014 at 10:57 AM

You guys talk about the triangle like its some mythical power only Phil can summon. Lots of teams run aspects of the triangle everyday. Sporstfan not sure what you mean by “triangle types of players” but i’m sure JR isn’t a Phil type of player. Melo will be just fine in this system if decides to stick around and wait. People say he should go to Houston but its harder to win in the west and how would the Harden, Howard, Anthony big 3 coexist? Not impossible but I don’t see it. Either way he has to take a leap of faith by staying in NY and hoping Phil can make something out of nothing, or see if he & D Rose can get it done in Chicago. L.A is in shambles for the foreseeable future so you can cross that out. What people fail to realize is that Tex Winters taught those Bulls/Lakers teams the triangle, which is why Phil had him on his bench for over 20 years.

Melo can’t play in a triangle offense? With the high elbow post ups against smaller players? I get you re-post the same stuff about Melo relentlessly but take an unbiased look at Melo for once, he’s not as bad as you claim he is.

Melo at his best is a 1 on 1 player and NY fans must accept the fact that he is a one dimensional player. He cannot score without the hogging ball and that is the opposite of the triangle. He has to work on screens to be open and gasp (share the ball!). If you are going to compare him to MJ forget about it, MJ went out of the triangle only when he knows that his shots are falling (plus, he plays defense unlike Melo).

What’s people’s definition of hogging the ball ????
If u all WATCHED Carmelo I bet you wouldn’t use that word.
Melos game involves quick strikes.
He is a quick decision maker. If all ur basing ur “hogging” definition on is shot attempts then please turn on five Knicks games and then readjust your word choice.

It is upsetting, but also a sign that Phil has complete autonomy in the front office. Herb Williams was forced by Dolan onto every coach that has been here in the last ten years. If Phil has the authority to dump Williams, it could really mean Dolan is getting out of his way and letting him do whatever he feels is necessary

Firing woody when they still had a small percentage chance of making the post season would have been detrimental to that run. Coaching changes are big Ripple makers and that would have been what people pointed to had it happened and the Knicks missed the playoffs. It was best to keep things as is and see how far they could have gone.

Woodson is good man, he just didn’t get the job done. New regime mean changes in any business. Woody would make a good bench coach. Drawing up defensive schemes for teams that don’t play defense, think Golden State, Phoenix, Clippers.

Its going to take about 2 more yrs until Phil Jackson completely un-does James Dolan’s transactions. Bottom line, if James Dolan stays away from basketball decisions in the future, then I’ll actually give the Knicks hope.